Cleaner trawl fishing

These observers, largely paid by the federal government, are required to be aboard West Coast bottom-trawl boats whenever they drop nets — part of a radical overhaul of a troubled commercial-harvest system long plagued by overfishing and waste.

Bristol Bay report

Tuesday, July 3, 2012

CRAB GEAR LOST UNDER ICE

Strong Copper River sockeye run

Salmon harvests in the Copper River District swelled to 1,348,000 fish for the week ended June 29, with the state's preliminary harvest report showing a sockeye catch well above and Chinook catch way below average.

Alaskan wannabe back in court

Ravenous bears

Here in the Alaska bush, as we see more and more signs of grizzly bears, all that quaintness vanishes and what you come to realize is that a grizzly bear is not omnivorous per se, but rather absolutely, desperately ravenous all the time.

ADFG Blue Sheet

Gillnet ban headed for ballot

A measure that would ban using gillnets on the Columbia River and Oregon's other inland waters appears to be headed to the November ballot after supporters submitted another 45,000 signatures to the secretary of state Monday.

Man dies in Akutan

Report sees sockeye decline

The number of adult sockeye salmon produced per spawner has been decreasing over the last decade or more along the western coast of North America, from Washington state up through British Columbia and southeast Alaska.

Greenpeace vessel in Unalaska

Friday, July 6, 2012

NEWS CELEB ON BRISTOL BAY

On Tuesday, July 10th, Dan Rather Reports will air the first live broadcast from the remote town of King Salmon, which is on the Naknek River at the edge of Bristol Bay. More than 60 percent of the nation's seafood comes from Alaska, and Bristol Bay is ground zero for the fight to save the wild salmon.

No extension on EPA report

The Environmental Protection Agency has announced it won't extend the 60-day public comment period on the agency's draft assessment of the Bristol Bay watershed, a study of the environmental impact the controversial Pebble Mine, or other projects could have on the important fishing area.

Port Simpson plant re-opens

A couple million dollars worth of renovations and improvements have been made to the village's processing plant, which is now hoping to fill the void in groundfish processing capacity left by the closure of the MacMillan fish plant in Prince Rupert.

Seiner salmon certification begins

The MSC received notice of a signed contract between the Purse Seine Vessel Owners Association (PSVOA) and Intertek Moody Marine (IMM), the certification body that will conduct an independent assessment of the entire Alaska salmon fishery against the MSC standard.

Alaska Fisheries Report

Coming up this week: How ObamaCare may help independent fishing families; processing fish and creating jobs in Kake; and sharing fish on the Yukon. All that, and the Dungy season in Southeast got off to a better start this summer than last.